JSW Steel Q4 production falls 5%; to restart operations soon

MUMBAI: JSW Steel’s crude steel production fell 5% year-on-year to 3.97 million tonne in the March quarter. While production during January-February was 1% higher than a year ago, slowdown in economic activity due to the covid-19 lockdown towards the end of March led to a sharp fall in output across plant locations.

The company achieved 97.3% of the revised production guidance of 16.5 million tonne for fiscal 2019-20, the company said in a release.

The company on Tuesday said it is making “all preparations to recommence operations at all locations on lifting of lockdown in the next few days”.

On 22 March, JSW Steel informed stock exchanges that it was scaling down manufacturing operations at several locations and reducing capacity utilisation anticipating a fall in demand because of the lockdown and restricted movement of people and goods, despite steel being classified as an essential commodity.

Other large private steel companies in India, including Tata Steel and Arcelormittal, have announced similar reductions to their production capacities.